Happy Valentine's Day!!

We had a great Valentine's Day here yesterday.  We also had a lot of preparing to do to get ready for yesterday.  I realized a few weeks ago that all five of us needed to do Valentine's.  That is a whole lot of candy and valentine's so we decided to do some different things.   Kole and I did our valentine's together for Time Nursery.  We decided to make crayon hearts.   It is a fun project that looks cute when finished and also gets rid of many broken crayons.  All three kids helped me with this project.

 The first step is to peel the paper off the crayons.  This kept them buy for quite some time.  Then we filled the heart shapes with broken crayon pieces.  The all had a great time peeking in the oven to watch the crayons melt.  After they were melted and cooled we popped them out of the mold and they were ready to give to our friends.

 









Another thing the girls had to do was have something to put their valentine's in.  Ella decided to use a large plastic teapot we had, but Addi wanted to make something.  Dad and Addi worked together and made a cell phone box for her valentine's.

 

We finally had all things ready for Valentine's Day.  I was surprised halfway through the morning with a dozen beautiful colored roses from Trav and the kids.

 

 

Then after the girls got home they presented me with valentine's that they had made.  They asked Trav if they could stay afterschool with him and make these for me.  They came up with all the ideas themselves.  Trav just helped with spelling.  Ella's said Roses are pink, violets are purple, you are so sweet.  Addi's said roses are red, violets are blue, you are so sweet and I love you!    Feeling totally blessed!!

No more staples!

Kole and I ventured down to Spencer today to get his staples out. Ever since he got them he has asked several times a day when they were coming out. You can imagine my surprise when I told him we were going to get them out and he informed me that he liked them and wanted to keep them in! He was very brave again and didn't cry at all. He chose to eat at McDonalds afterwards since he was so brave. I am now looking forward to washing all of his hair, not just the back!

Date night!

We have the annual father- daughter dance coming up on the 23rd of this month. Last night at supper Trav asked the girls if they would like to go with him. Ella responded with 'Oh, yes! I was hoping you would ask!'

Eventful Day

Yesterday turned out to be quite the eventful day here at the Popken household.  It started as all our Sunday's do with getting ready for church.  After we were mostly ready we looked outside to see ice covered roads so we thought we should test the roads before we took off for church 15 miles away.  Trav and Addi got in the van to go test the roads.  As they were coming back home they slid past the driveway and then couldn't get the car up the driveway because of the ice.  Our decision was made!  There was no way we were going to church when we couldn't get up the driveway.  So everyone took off their church clothes and then we tackled the problem of getting the van off the street.  Trav and I went out and spread lots of ice melt and after waiting for it to work were able to get the van back in the garage.  We had church at home where we read the story of the tower of Babel and then played Jenga together.   Things were going fine until Addi started to feel sick.  You would think we would be used to this by now since Kole and then Ella have been sick for the last two weeks.  Needless to say still not used to it and Addi threw up a couple times.  After getting Addi settled I started working on lunch.  Then we heard Kole crying from Ella's room and Ella telling us to come quick.  I ran to Ella's room to find Kole with blood on his head.   He tripped over a toy and hit one of the sharp corners of Ella's doll house.  It was bleeding quite well and it looked deeper than a regular cut.  We are thinking he probably needs stitches, but we really didn't want to go out in the icy weather.  After trying to decided what to do I called a friend that's a nurse and asked if she would take a look at it.   Trav brought Kole to her house and she suggested we take him in.  So Trav and Kole went to the ER and he got his head wound fixed.  Because it is in his hair they don't do stitches so he had 3 staples put in.  Trav couldn't believe how brave it was.   They put a topical anesthetic on it and then wrapped Kole up like a mummy in a sheet.  I am told he didn't even cry.  When he got home he ran over to me and said 'Look mom, I got stakes in my head!"  The staples will be there for the next 10 days and we have to try to keep him from being the active little boy that he is.  He was already very disappointed to hear that he couldn't 'play deer' and head-butt people with his 'antlers.'  Hopefully we can make it quite sometime before we have a day this eventful again!

                                                          Kole before going to the ER!

                                                                       The Staples!!!

Dodging a Bullet!

Tonight on our way home Addi asked me ' Mom, what are periods?' I am starting to majorly freak out at this point and don't know what to say so I ask 'Why do you want to know?' This whole time I am trying to figure out how I can get out of this conversation plus I am amazed with myself that i didn't slam on the brakes after my shock from the question she had asked. She explained that the girl in her book has 5 periods at school. My relief at this point is overwhelming!! I very quickly explained how the classes in the school day are divided up into periods or blocks of time. Thank goodness I didn't have to explain what I was thinking of! Apparently I am not ready to discuss that with her.

Super Kole

Kole loves to wear his super cape. He can be heard several times a week asking if we would please put his cape on. Once he becomes 'SuperKole' he is commonly seen running around the house as fast as he can with his cape flying behind him. He has recently started wearing the mask that goes with the cape which can sometimes be a hazard because he puts it on himself and it sometimes impares his vision! Today he was also running with his sword and Holy Bible shield the sisters made him in Sunday School.

The Plunger Pest

Well, it has taken awhile for me (Travis) to write my first "Popken Post", but here goes nothing.

It all started one quiet snowy day in December. Rachel and I were sitting upstairs enjoying some uninterrupted conversation (rare).  When what did I hear? Banging from the basement. I assumed slamming doors...an accident waiting to happen. So down the stairs I bound to catch the assailants. The picture I see is a giggling 3 year old boy squishing a plunger to the outside of the bathroom door. Grossed out I immediately confiscate the plunger and ask him what he is doing.  Koleson says sister won't let him in the bathroom (poor Koleson).  I tell Ella to unlock the bathroom door. Ella screams out from behind the door, "No. Koley's going to get me with the plunger". Koleson sure does like to pester his sisters. I can't wait to see what he uses to scare them this summer...hopefully snakes and frogs!